It’s Time To Take Action…

“You will never get rich working for someone else!”

– J. Paul Getty, author, How To Become Rich.

Our current education system was started in the 19th century during the industrial age, and it was designed to give people the skills to work in industries, offices and so on. It was designed to make people good employees to work in those industries. It was not designed to make them employers, businesspeople, and entrepreneurs or to make them financially literate.

No wonder therefore, our poor parents advised us to go to school, study very hard, and get good grades in order to get a good, secure job in a big organization. This is no coincidence because our parents were also advised the same by their own parents.

Instinctively, we just obeyed them – so, most of us went to school, studied very hard, and got good grades in order to get a good secure job in a large corporation.

Generally, the order of our priorities in life became something like this:

1) To be secure
2) To be comfortable
3) To become rich

Notice the order of priorities!

Notice how “To become rich” is usually given the last priority – an afterthought. For most people, the first priority is “job security” and then to live “a comfortable life”. And since you become what your priority is, the result is that most people never become rich. No wonder, most people waste their productive lives working for someone else thereby making them rich only to retire on a pension; and since they don’t know what else to do, they die soon thereafter out of boredom.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not campaigning against people getting jobs. I had a very secure job with a blue chip company myself. In fact I learnt quite a lot while working for that company.

“The most secure place on earth is in prison.”
– Robert Kiyosaki, author of best-selling book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.


The book that changed my life is called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. The year was 2004 and I was at the height of my professional career in the corporate world. Like everyone else, I worked terribly long hours, often including weekends. I had been with the organization for eight years during which we went through a lot of challenges. I remember sometimes I had to be in the office at 7.00 AM in the morning and I would leave the office at 9.00 PM at night after everyone else had left. The job was very stressful with very strict deadlines to meet, and since I was a key employee, annual leave was rare. No matter how hard I worked, the workload only seemed to increase by the day. Oftentimes, I would arrive home late, find my children already asleep, have a late meal, and sometimes slumber on the couch while watching TV. I was like a stranger in my own house. The following day it would be the same routine all over again and it seemed like there was no end to the vicious cycle. I hated my daily commute. I was among a group of very innovative individuals, and I remember we did introduce quite a few innovative ideas into the organization, one of which enabled the organization to save nearly one million dollars annually in profits. And what did I get for all my troubles? Not even a pat on the back!

The atmosphere was very competitive, and office politics was the order of the day. In our department, there were two other colleagues at the same middle-management level as myself, and all of us were competing for succession to the only senior management position available in the department at the time. You had to lobby very hard to get this position, and if you were not in good political standing with the top management in addition to being in favor with the incumbent boss, you were out of luck. Needless to say that in addition, you had to be appropriately “culturalized” in order to ensure your success.

We were going through very tough economic times. Due to stiff competition, poor management and unfavorable economic climate, the company was forced to downsize in a major restructuring that saw my immediate boss laid-off. This caught many people off-guard, and it was quite disheartening to see some very senior managers evidently shaken.

After my boss was laid-off, the most senior position in our department was rendered vacant. At that time, one of my two colleagues had been aggressively lobbying for this position for quite a while, perhaps with the support of my former boss. This was his perfect opportunity, especially since he was both “politically correct” with top management and in favor with my outgoing boss. Although I had been with the company longer, my colleague immediately got the approval for the position instead. It was no surprise since it was common knowledge that my colleague had the backing of my former boss.

For me, the handwriting was on the wall. In that tense environment, there was little or no room for advancement. You had to wait endlessly for someone to be either transferred, laid off or to die - otherwise it was a dead-end for you. And if you did not agree to “tow-the-line” you had to call it quits. That’s when I decided to make my move. I considered looking for another job, but on second thought, I realized that I would be still trying to climb another man’s ladder. Therefore, I decided to go find my own ladder, and from that time on, I never looked back.

By the way, one month after my resignation, I was informed that the CEO who supervised the restructuring process had been given the “axe” by head office for poor performance.

“Everything that happens in your life is moving you in the direction of your goals.”
– Bob Proctor, author of You Were Born Rich and The Science of Getting Rich seminars


“Prosperity is the ability to do what you want to do at the instant you want to do it.”
– Treat Yourself to Life by Raymond Charles Barker, 1954

“It’s not enough to be in the right place at the right time. You have to be the right person in the right place at the right time.”

– T. Harv Eker, author, Secrets of The Millionaire Mind

Someone once advised:

“Do not be afraid to be different. We only live once, so do what makes YOU happy and not what others think should make you happy. Always be true to yourself”.

There’s no such thing as job security anymore. Companies all over the world are laying-off thousands of staff under the guise of “restructuring “ in order to cut costs and prolong their survival. Big European and American companies such as IBM, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Nike, Sony, Ericksson, Nokia and Siemens are moving their operations to China, Vietnam, Thailand and other parts of the world in search of cheap labour. And many other companies in the developed world are outsourcing their non-core activities such as IT, data processing and accounting in developing countries such as India and Africa in order to cut costs and remain competitive. In the late eighties, Management guru, Charles Handy made the prediction in his book, The Age of Unreason (a.k.a The Age of Paradox) that large organizations, which he called elephant organizations, would be forced by competition to either shrink or disintegrate into what he called shamrock organizations or federalism starting late 20th century and into the 21st century.

If you’re still with me up to this point, let me take this opportunity to congratulate you. You’re now ready to take ACTION. I don’t mean that you quit your current job – keep your current job by any means, but remember there’s no job security anymore. The information you’re reading here is privileged. I’ve also given you further references for you to read. Most of these further references have changed the lives of millions of people around the world and made them millionaires. It is impossible to read the material presented here and not begin to change your mindset. After changing your mindset and training yourself on the correct way of thinking and doing, I believe you are ready to take some action. If you’ve come this far, I believe you’re on the right path. For starters, you can start a part-time business. This can start you on the right track. Get all the information you can get to start your own part-time business. There are many sources of information and the Internet is a great source of information. There are many part-time businesses you can start, which I will not mention now, but please watch this space for related articles in future.

“Do the right thing instead of doing things right”. – Peter Drucker.

I recommend that you also start reading financial and personal development books. I recommend you start with Robert Kiyosaki’s best-selling book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad first. This book is excellent for people just beginning their financial education. It has been read by millions of people worldwide and transformed the thinking of many. Remember, financial literacy is not taught in schools. What they teach in school is a different subject called financial management, which is the academic view of the subject of managing money. It basically equips you with the skills to manage other people’s money. It does not adequately equip you with the knowledge to manage your own money, to think for yourself, to survive in the street and to achieve financial freedom. You can also read The Cash-Flow Quadrant by the same author – another excellent book.